Villagers sent a petition to BT and enlisted the help of their local Conservative MP Graham Stuart.

'Local passion'

Mr Stuart said BT initially told him they never replaced damaged red boxes as they were. "too expensive to maintain". Following another meeting the firm agreed.

Mr Stuart said he was delighted that the "cultural icon" K6 box was being replaced.

"These phone boxes are wonderful parts of our local landscape, important to our tourism industry, and this one provides a vital service in a village with poor mobile signal, especially as there is a defibrillator only a few metres away," he said.

BT said it had changed its policy in this instance as "the passion shown by local people to keep their red phone box in the heart of their community meant an exception had to made".

The cast-iron K6 kiosk was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935.

Image copyrightFacebookImage caption
The original box stood on the village green